"Absolutely false," Ford said in an interview on CBC News Network when asked for his reaction.

"It's absolutely false. These people want to come after our character," he said.

In the article the Globe and Mail quotes 10 unidentified sources who claim that Doug Ford had ties to the illicit drug trade dating back to when Ford was a teen.

Ford admitted in the interview he bought and smoked marijuana as a teen. But when asked if he ever dealt drugs he was adamant. "No," he said.

The newspaper says it carried out an 18-month investigation into the Ford family and alleges that both Doug and brother Randy Ford were involved in selling drugs.

The unidentified sources say Doug Ford, now a city councillor, trafficked in large quantities of hashish during the 1980s.

It is also reported that a city hall staffer, hired recently by the mayor's office, is alleged to have dealt drugs with Doug Ford.

In the interview with CBC News, Ford said he told the Globe's editor-in-chief John Stackhouse that he thought it was "outrageous what they were doing" and said he was a victim of "gutter, sleazy journalism."

Stackhouse defended the article, saying he believed it was "important to get this on the public record."